The County Seat Utah SB 155 Indigent Defense Commission

We are at the state Capitol at the Senate office
building today for our show on Indigent Defense. It is a long
constitutional principle of this country that everybody is entitled to
defense when they have to face a court of law and of course as made famous in popular culture by the Miranda Warning it says if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you and that is where we are with the issue of Indigent Defense, because it falls upon communities to provide defense for people who are facing criminal charges and they cannot afford an attorney. So as we get into Indigent Defense the counties struggle particularly rural counties in making this all come together and finding an
equitable way to present it. That is the topic of our discussion today a bill is headed to the floor of the legislature this year that will discuss the issue and to kind of get a perspective on it.